O is for oils

We have oils for everything today, maintaining your car, cooking, perfumes, for you hair, and to change your mood.  I’m sure I’ve missed a few. 

When I was growing up we had motor oil and vegetable oil and that was about it.  In the sixties, I discovered essential oils and started using them in place of perfume.  My favorites for this purpose are musk and patchouli.  I still use them to this day.  Oils stay on all day, unlike most perfume that dissipates in a few hours.  A drop or two is all you need too.

I never use vegetable oil these days, but instead use olive oil, coconut oil, sesame oil, or peanut oil depending on the flavor I desire for what I’m cooking.  I think these are healthier oils than vegetable and canola.

Toasted sesame oil lends a great flavor to oriental dishes.  I love stir fry with rice noodles, or rice, and all the veggies. 

Olive oil is great for most other things I cook, like meat or eggs, or stir-fried veggies, unless I want a hint of coconut.

Moroccan oil and Argon oil are great for your hair.  They give it shine and are a big help against split ends and breakage.  It only takes a couple of drops too, so the bottle will last a while since this stuff isn’t cheap. 

But coconut oil is the most versatile oil I know of.  It can be used in cooking, as a hair conditioner, as a body lotion, a makeup remover, etc.  I’m sure there are many more uses for it.  I must warn you to keep this oil capped up well and also zipped into a large storage bag after opening.  Ants love this stuff.  I guess they can smell the coconut a mile away.  I had a small jar in the bathroom that had a nice screw-on lid.  I had it capped tightly, but the ants still got in there and ate all that oil.  The only thing that alerted me to this situation was all the ants covering the jar and the trail headed for the contents.  Needless to say, I was flabbergasted.

Lastly, a large variety of oils are used in aroma therapy today.  They’re usually placed in a diffuser so the oil is dispersed in small amounts at a time to fill the room with pleasant scents.  Some of these oils are used to relieve stress and help you sleep, among other things.  I imagine these have been used for centuries and are enjoying a revival today, but I haven’t researched that.

Notions

This word can have many meanings, but for this post I’m using sewing and crafting notions.  The sheer magnitude of things today that exists in the fabric and craft stores can be overwhelming to me.  It’s like an explosion before my eyes of so many objects to look at and explore.  Those of you who visit these places will know what I’m talking about. 

I can remember the days when there were a lot fewer choices.  Today I can spend hours in a place like this looking at all the gadgets.  There seems to be a tool for everything.  Unfortunately I don’t have as much time for spending a few hours in places like this anymore because of my work schedule and other things I have to tend too.  But I know where to go if I’m looking for some oddball thing for a project that perhaps is only in my mind.  Many times I can find something that will work for what I’m thinking of.  The problem is I usually find more than I originally went to the store for, so end up coming home with more than I intended to buy in the first place. 

Sewing and crafting is always fun and a nice diversion from everyday life.

Mind blowing facts

Every month that starts on a Sunday will have a Friday the thirteenth.  I didn’t know this until I saw a tidbit about it the other day, so I decided to research it, along with other facts.  There are usually always two Friday the thirteenths in every year, while some years will have three or four.  Very few years have none, although there can be fourteen months without a Friday the thirteenth.

Here are some other facts you can share with your friends.

1.  High heels were invented by men.  Butchers originally used them to avoid stepping in blood.  Okay, can anyone really picture a butcher wearing heels?

2.  Eating onions and garlic helps your hair grow.

3.  High atmospheric pressure affects bubbles in your coffee.  If the bubbles are closer to the center, expect rain or stormy weather.

4.  Elephants are one of the most intelligent and emotional creatures in the world.  They can save other animals that need help, such as trapped dogs and humans.

5.  If a cockroach touches a human it runs to safety and cleanses itself.  Hmmm…I didn’t think the cockroach had much of a brain, but then I’ve heard they can survive a nuclear war.

6.  You wouldn’t be able to taste any food unless it’s mixed with your saliva.

7.  Dolphins act as midwives and help other dolphins give birth.

8.  Putting sugar on a cut or wound will help it heal faster.  I’m going to have to try this.  I’m always hurting myself.

9.  The smell of freshly cut grass is the scent that plants release when they’re in distress.

10.  During pregnancy a woman’s brain shrinks and it takes up to six months to regain its original size.

There are lots more unusual facts.  I may write another post about this later.

L is for lizards

We have an abundance of these little critters in the desert.  Most prevalent are the neck-ringed lizards, but we’ve also seen a few others here, including an albino lizard.

 Albino lizard in the desert behind our house

 

They hibernate in the winters here.  Once they start appearing all over the place, we know that the cold weather is gone for the year.  These guys take up residence all over our yard, but this is fine because they eat bugs.  In the summer, it’s not unusual to see half a dozen of them clinging to the stucco on our house.  Their homes become the rock piles, crevices and behind our storage building, among other places.

 The lizard that lived in our fireplace

 

One year we had one living in the fireplace.  This year we have another one who’s decided to make his home behind the shutter in the front of the house.  There was one that lived there a couple of years ago but it was caught and eaten by a passing roadrunner.  Koki was very upset as she watched the roadrunner catch her friend, beat him to death on the rocks and then eat him right in front of her.  She pouted for days.  I suspect that was her way of mourning.

 A lizard with an attitude

 

Naturally she’s glad to see one back again this year.  The cats love to sit on a stool by the window and watch this guy as he plays with them by sticking his head out of the shutter.  This provides hours of fun. 

A lizard on our patio

I have at least a hundred pictures of lizards.  Like most things around here, I can't stop taking pictures.